Wanderer (Wood Elf) Tactics
'''''Why Play Wanderers?''''' * The Wanderers (AKA Wood Elves) have reputation for shooting, however they are capable of performing well in other respects as well. While they have several units for a number of situations, the wanderers' key strengths are still speed and shooting. Most Wanderer units are fast, with basic foot troops having 6" movement standard for most Aelfs, however the faction also has faster examples, such as: * Wardancers move 8", which is the fastest current move characteristic for any foot troops in the game (Chaos has some mounted units that are slower). * Glade Riders can shoot after advancing, allowing them to pepper units with arrows, and be on their merry way before the enemy has a chance to respond. The shooting aspect of the army, while scaled down a little in AOS, could still be considered the best in the game. Some examples include: - Waywatchers: arguably the best archers in the game with a outstanding shooting statline (for a non hero unit) and the ability to increase the damage/rend output or a potentially huge increase in attack number. - Many of the buffs available to the army are either geared towards shooting or a worded in such a way that they apply to both combat and shooting. See the units list below for all examples. Despite the obvious shooting focus, Wanderers do have several units capable of dealing with a mix of situations. However, like most Aelfs they are specialists and don't really have a true Jack of all trades unit. '''''Pros:''''' * Fast. Very Fast. * Can rain plenty of arrows down on the opponent. * Have many abilities that support shooting. * Good overall bravery. * Beautiful models. * Not awful at anything. '''''Cons:''''' * Most units arent all that hardy (Like all Aelfs). * Usually very green, however in Age of Sigmar there are many more possibilities for colour schemes. * The removal of the Sylvaneth from the faction has robbed them of their heavy hitters (Note that you can field them together still using Allies or an Order Army) = The Units '''Named Characters''' '''- Orion King of the Woods -''' '''- Sisters of Twilight''' '''- Araloth''' '''Heros''' '''- Glade Lord''' Your standard command unit. Comes in a number of loadouts: * '''Greatblade & Bow''': The most effective all rounder of the three loadouts. The greatblade gives 3 D3 damage attacks at -1 rend, making it the more effective choice when engaging Heros/Monster in close combat. While bow related abilities do not apply to the sword, having a bow as well means the glade lord can continue to contribute to your army's already formidible shooting potential, without putting him in harms way. * '''Kindred Blade & Starlight Spear''': This is a close combat only choice with two weapons, allowing him to spread out attacks to more than one unit at a time. Therefore this is arguably more effective offensively when dealing with massed units. Without a ranged weapon, this loadout is most effective when used to buff close combat units while getting stuck in as well. However, it can be argued that since you can shoot into and out of combat, the Greatblade & bow option will still perform this role more effectivley * '''Bow & Hunting Falcon:''' Your prime shooting option. Ideal if you want to buff your archers and are planning to keep your General out of harms way armed with a bow that can make 3 attacks at -1 rend, as well as an extra attack in the form of your pet hunting Falcon. The true selling point for this variation however is the 'Hail of Doom" arrow ability. Once per battle, the 3 attacks become 3d6 attacks, potentially unleashing 18 arrows from a single bow! = '''Arrow of Kurnous''' = All Glade lords come the 'Arrow of Kurnous' ability regardless of load out. This allows you to take a pot shot at the enemies general (if within view) for 1 mortal wound. While not a world ending ability, it can serve as a satisfiying starting point to breaking down the enemy's general. = '''Command ability - Lord of Deepwood hosts''' = Allows units within 8" to reroll hit rolls of 1. Note this does not specify in melée or shooting. Careful placement will see maximum returns for this ability. Either move the Lord close to a existing combat to increase their hit ratio, or park him at the rear of your army surrounded by massed ranged units. Combined with other ranged weapon buffs available to the army, this ability can boost even the standard Glade guard to become a serious threat. General tactics- Unless you have a very specific play style in mind, the Greatblade and Bow is likely to be the most versatile option. This unit should not be squandered by sending it into risky confrontations, but should instead be kept close to your main sources of damage output to buff them while peppering enemy heros and wizards with their Bow. '''Glade Lord on Forest Dragon''' The hard hitter in your army. Has one of the most battle deciding abilities in the game. The forest dragon has the standard offensive and defensive abilities of most other dragons, with some slight differences (e.g. 2 fewer wounds that its High elf counterpart). However, the Glade lord himself has a decidedly average attack loadout. Despite this, the Glade Lord on Forest Dragon can hold their own against all but the fiercest of close combat units. Additionally, with a 14" flying movement speed, it can quickly relocate to safety, or to better provide support elsewhere. '''Kindred Shield:''' The most useful contribution of the Glade lord is the ability to re-roll all failed save rolls for this unit '''Command Ability - Highborn Lord''' A superior version of the standard Glade Lord's command ability, which allows you to re roll both hit and wound rolls of 1 for Wanderer units within 16" '''Soporific Breath:''' This is the forest dragons headline ability and can make or break many games with correct usage. This ability means that ALL enemy units within 3" of the dragon cannot pile in and attack until ALL other eligible units on the field have done so. (Note you cannot forego your own attacks and therebye prevent the enemy from attacking) This ability has a host of applications but basically means that all of your units that are attacking a unit(s) within 3" of the Dragon are safe until other combats on the field are dealt with . This means they may be able to attack their foe with full force before the enemy can reply. This ability can be used to most effect by flying your dragon into a large crush of Melee or by piling units into a potentially devastating target and watching them tear it to shreds before the unit can mutter so much as a word of complaint. Killing Skarbrand in a single turn with a unit of Eternal guard buffed by the Dragon Lord, while suffering no damage in return is not unheard of! General Tactics: This is a tactically interesting unit and is not overpowered (Although those on the recieving end may disagree), since it is possible for the opponent to largely minimise its effects by clever unit positioning or by focussing fire to remove the dragon. Overly cautious play with this unit, where it is relegated to buffing archers, denies the use of its main appeal in the game. On the other hand, flying it into a crush can change the tide of battle with a brutal combination of buffs, offensive power and a strategy crushing ability, but is inherently more risky. '''''Glade Lord on Great Eagle''''' '''''Glade Lord on Stag''''' '''''Glade Lord on Horse''''' '''''Waywatcher Lord''''' Your armies main ranged hero, a fairly humble looking model that should remain in cover and be used to help pick off the enemys more powerful units. He gains bonus's for remaining stationary and within cover, so he is best left out of the way where he can take pot shots at heros and monsters. '''Hawk eyed archer''': An ability shared with the standard waywatchers unit which allows this model to choose between firing either ''precise shots'' or ''fast shots''. ''Precise shots'' increase each attack damage to 2 and on a hit roll of 6 or more are resolved with -2 rend making it your choice ability for heavily armored monsters or lords. ''Fast shots'' allows the model to make an extra attack along with another attack for every roll of 6 or more, however due to the unlikelness of scoring more than an extra attack or two this ability is really more effective with the standard waywatchers. '''Invisible hunter:''' -1 to hit rolls against this unit while its in cover. Useful considering the waywatcher lord wont stand up to much. '''Solitary Marksman''': adds a +1 to hits if the unit remained stationary this turn and is targeting a monster or hero. '''General Tactics''': The combination of precise shots, invisible hunter and solitary marksman make it fairly evident that this unit is intended for character assassination. PArk him in cover where he will be forgotten about and use him to soften up or assasinate the enemys more powerful units. While not an inherent statline ability, it is entirely possible that he will remain unnoticed if hidden away somewhere. This is even more likely if your opponent overlooks his shooting attacks while dealing with the the storm of arrows from the rest of the army. Remember, as a solitary hero, he does not provides buffs to the rest of the army and does not have a command ability, making him a terrible choice for the General. '''''Shadowdancer''''' A fusion of both Wizard and Warrior this unit is capable in both areas but excels in neither. It can boost the movement of the already speedy units in the army and is also better than most wizards in defending herself in close combat. '''Talismanic Tatoos''': Offers a further 6+ save for wounds and mortal wounds, which is sorely needed due to her poor armour save. Shadow dance of Loec: In your hero phase you can choose 1 of 3 dances to perform that will buff up this unit. WARNING: you may not use the same dance consecutively one turn after another, meaning careful planning is required. The three dances are as follows: * ''Whirling Death'': The models weaving blade wounds on a 3+ and rend becomes -1. Not an overly powerful technique but may help if he/she comes face to face with another hero. * ''Storm of blades'': model makes 4 attacks with Weaving blades instead of 2. Much like the waywatcher lord, this ability is less useful for a singular unit, and instead is more effective for the regular wardancers. * ''The Shadow Coil:'' turns this units 6+ save into a 4+ save, and is probably the most valuable dance. '''Magic''' Can cast and unbind 1 spell per turn: ''Bridge of Shadows'': The highlight of this model, successfully casting this spell will allow you to pick a wanderer unit to double their movement and make them fly. This can be extremely useful if you need a unit somewhere else quickly. Examples include moving the frail wardancers into combat before they are peppered with arrows; or boosting your elite Wild Rider cavalry to a blistering 24" flying move. Rudolf would be proud. '''''General Tactics''''': Overall, this model should focus on its support ability, as its combat ability is largely underwhelming and will get them killed quickly thanks to the poor 6+ save. Like any spellcaster she can buff armor saves and throw arcane bolts however her main spell will always be to boost movement. '''''Spellweaver''''' Your Standard spellcaster. Not particularly useful as an offensive weapon but certainly has some nifty abilities that can tip a battle in your favor. '''''Ancient blessings''''': once per game can automatically unbind a spell (counts as this units unbind attempt). This can be extremly useful if used in the right circumstances as it may be able to foil an enemys plans at a crucial moment in the battle. Such as stopping a particularly nasty summoning (E.g. Bloodthirster) or countering fateweavers dice altering ability. '''Magic''' Can cast and unbind 1 spell per turn: '''''Blessings of life''''': upon success this spell will restore D3 MODELS to a selected unit. If used against a mediocre unit such as glade guard this spell is decidely average however since it dosent specify what units can be revived other than it being a wanderer unit you can quite easily use it to revive your elites as well which makes this spell invaluable. '''General Tactics''': Always have atleast 1 of these in your army as both its abilties can help to improve the endurance of your army and can serve to ruin strategys if your opponent was planning to rely on one major spell related move. Keep the spell weaver on foot glued to yout archer units and use it to either improve there terrible saves or restore there number so that they keep there massed unit buffs. Another reccommend strategy is to stick one of these guys on a horse and have them tailing a group of cavalry such as your wild riders. The ability to revive this lighting fast units on the go will help increase this units life expectancy as they just keep poppoint up like daisys. Reviving warhawk riders will let you revive a relatively large number of wounds and might be one of the better choices (untill wanderers get a variation on heavy cavalry like Dracoths and Varanguard). '''''Glade Captain with Standard''''' Your armies Totem unit and secondary hero. An essntial choice when taking on magic heavy armies. '''''To their dying breath:''''' if this model is slain it can pile in and attack before it is removed even if it has already attacked. for a fairly below average combat hero this ability isent going to exactly rock the foundations of the game but it serves to give this unit a little extra bite that your opponent may remember. Also if your opponet is aware of this they may be slighty more wary of putting there heros in harms way. '''''The banner of Athel Loren:''''' This is the models reason for being: Roll a dice for each Wound or M Wound caused by a spell against a Wanderer unit within 8" (18" if the standard is planted and cannont be move until next turn) for each 4+ that is rolled the wound is ignored. This ability can really serve to blunt the offensive capabiltiy of many magic based armies. NOTE: this banner only blocks the effects of the spell and does not stop the spell itself. Also it only applys to MAGIC and therefore affords no protection against abilities '''''General Tactics:''''' Against a relativly "normal" army (Aka has magic but is not focused on it) it can always pay to have one of these guys tagging along behind the vangard of your army. However if your against something like a Tzeenchian force take as many of these as you dare and try to get there influence to cover all the crucial points of the battle could save you from alot of nasty Arcane bolts.This could potentially remove the tip from the enemys spear. '''''Infantry''''' '''''Glade Guard''''' Bread and butter shooting units. Not the overwhelming powerhouses of the archer world they once were however in large numbers with a few select buffs and they can still take apart units and even slay the games larger enemies in one go. They are however terrible in close combat and have a 6+ armor save and will therefore not stand up to much if left unprotected. Asrai Archery: add one to the hit roll if the unit contains 20+ units. turning the groups shooting statline into a 3+ hit 4+ Wound. The larger this unit the more effective it becomes as that many arrows pointed at one target is likely to reap a decent toll. Arcane Bodkins: A one per game ability and 1 that will strike fear it the hearts of your opponents. Once per battle this unit can take a shot at the enemy with arrows that have -3 rend (thats right) instead of -. This ability used at the right moment can take apart almost any unit in the game wiping the smirks of the races of even units like Nagash. General Tactics: A great unit to have back and centre in your army. Not overly powered but not a unit that can be left untouched by your enemy because of there potential damage. So if nothing else can be used as a great distraction. This unit can become the focul point of your army if you use enough buffs and synergy. However despite this units potential you should take care not to focus your entire strategy around it as the glade guard do drop like flies and even massed shootings can still result in no more than a few succesful wounds. Field them by all means but make sure they are either protected or you are prepared to watch them die in droves. '''''Eternal Guard''''' Your 'Standard' close combat option upon first glance the seem relativly average but bare in mind that these guys excel in defenceive fighting. '''''Glade Shield:''''' Re-roll saves of 1. with a 5+ save these guys sorely need this protection if going on the attack. however if your incover you can reroll saves of 1 or 2 allowing you to re roll failed 4+ saves. '''''Fortress of boughs:''''' This units key ability. If this unit uses this ability it cannot move until the next hero phase. However it grants them a + 1 to there saves, hit and wound rolls. This ability alone will transform the effectivness of these units. '''''General Tactics:''''' These guys will serve as chaff in offence at best but all indications are that they should be used in defence. get these guys to protect a unit of archers from within cover using fortress of boughs and youve got yourself a unit that attacks in 2 rows (2" range) with a 3+ hit and wound rolls as well as defends with a 3+ save that can be rerolled (re roll 1-2 in cover remember). Now considering that this is an Aelf unit and considering that its your Basic infantry. thats absolutly incredible. (and all that is without any external buffs!) '''''Wyldwood Rangers''''' This armies monster slayers. Another good example of a specialist units. While certainly no slouches in combat with massed units this guys will truely shine when taking on the larger beasties. Guardians of the Wyld Wood: When attacking a Monster these guys damage jumps from 1 to D3 each. An average unit of these guys comes in atleast 10 and have a 2" range which means that this guys can dish out a potential 60 wounds (17.8 avg before saves which are rend at -1) when attacking monsters and with a fairly impressive unbuffed statline they are likely to suceed in a fair few of them. General Tactics: Any army that has any significant number of monster units should dread these guys. With just a few buffs these guys can potentially take apart any monster in the game (and thats just a unit of 10!) let us remeber however that if the monster arent there (or youve killed them all) you need to consider how best to apply these guys in other areas. They will do well against most units during your attack but without a shield to buff there 5+ save they are likely to die very quickly if the enmy is allowed to strike back. So inmany ways they are the opposite of the eternal guard in that playing them defensivly robs them o the lionshare of there value. Another major consideration its getting them into the fight in the first place any these guys are a priority target for anyone who knows what they can do (Spell weaver tag along certainly wont hurt) '''''Wardancers''''' Essentialy the Aelf equivilant of Duaradin Slayers. Your beserker unit. Can deal a hideous amount of damage in close combat and have the speed to get them there. However there lack of protection gives them a short life expectancy so are best used as shock troops or distractions. '''Talismanic Tatoos''': Offers a 6+ save after save for wounds and mortal wounds. This guy needs all the protection he can get. Shadow dance of Loec: In your hero phase you can choose 1 of 3 dances to perform that will buff up this unit. WARNING: you cannon use the same dance concecutavly so make sure you time it correctly. the three dances are as follows: * ''Whirling Death'': The models weaving blade wounds on a 3+ and rend becomes -1. Your choice of dance when up against armored foes. * ''Storm of blades'': model makes 3 attacks with Weaving blades instead of 2. Good at wading through chaffy units. * ''The Shadow Coil:'' turns this units 6+ save into a 4+ save. Which is something this unit sorely needs '''''General Tactics''''': These guys can dish out some serious damage if they get close enough. The trick is getting them there in one piece. These guys can be used in to major ways. Either throw them into combat as fast as you can (and with an 8" movement range these are the units to do it) with them help of either magic to shield them or a Shadowdancer to supe up there movement. Alternativly you can use them as ambush options if you are playing definsivly, hiding them out of site or out of range and throwing them into combat when an enemy gets to close. Ultimately these guys can be used to great effect if you are fortunate however they are one of the more trickly units to use effectivly as you may find them wiped out before landing a signle blow on some occasions. '''''Waywatchers''''' To think of Wood elves is to think of these guys. They are possibly the greatest archers in the game so far and can be fielded in larger numbers in AOS. Get them in cover and get them shooting. '''Hawk eyed archer''': An ability that is also shared with the waywatcher Lord. allows this model to choose between firing either ''precise shots'' or ''fast shots''. ''Precise shots'' increase each attack damage to 2 and on a hit roll of 6 or more are resolved with -2 rend making it your choice ability for heavily armored monsters or lords. ''Fast shots'' allows the model to make an extra attack along with another attack for every roll of 6 or more (so potentialy no limit to number of attacks if you keep rolling 6+)either option is good in the right situation but fast shots is vastly more effective than the Waywatcher lord version as the chances of rolling a 6+ much higher . '''Invisible hunter:''' -1 to hit rolls against this unit while its in cover. useful considering the waywatcher lord wont stand up to much. '''General Tactics''': Some would argue that you are much better off fielding a mass of these guys than Glade guard however since AOS's balancing methods are a little spotty at the moment it could be considered a rather unfair move to field a unit of 30+ waywatchers (but thats for your opponent to decide) Ultimately though these guys will be able to bring the pain more consistantly than than Glade guard even in smaller numbers. Its worth setting up a small unit in cover somewhere even if you dont want to use them as your core units. '''''Hunting Hounds''''' The Wanderers only summonable unit. with relativly low stats these guys are mainly chaff units(unless they are kept close to orion. '''''Summoning''''' Summoned on a 5 in groups of no more than 5 by any wanderer wizard. '''''Hounds of the wild hunt''''': models make an extra attack while within 6" of Orion. '''''General Tactics:''''' these guys are chaff. even if they are summoned along side orion there need for close proximity to him mean that they wil mainy serve to take the attention off orion. While they are not the strongest units an Aelf army being able to summon a wall of chaff when needed is quite a useful thing. Use them to break a charge against you spellweaver or perhaps tip a dual against a hero in there favor. Cavalry '''''Glade Riders''''' At first glance these guys can seem absurdly fragile and not all that powerful. However glade riders epitomise fast attack/hit and run units. Fire on the move: A simple yet effective ability that means that the unit can run and shoot. NOTE: running is not the same as retreating even though it is resolved in the same way. This ability means that this unit can potentially sprint up to 20" every turn (34" if you buff with a Shadow Dancer) and can still shoot enemys with there bows. General Tactics: Not the easiest units to use to there full potential as they suck at head to head engagements and making them stand and shoot just defeats the point of them. You want them to out flank and out manoure your opponent taking shots at either units to slow to catch them or ones tied up in combat remember with 2 shots each on there bows a group of 10has the same hitting power as a very mobile group of 20 glade guard. Its also a good idea to have them followed by a mounted Spellweaver to buff there poor armor save (6+) and/or replenish losses. The overiding weakness of this group is that if they get cornored and/or tied up in combat with all but the weakest opponents you can kiss them goodbye. Wild Riders Sisters of the Thorn Hawk Riders Monsters/Other Great Eagle